Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-02-03
CASCARONES.
An Rld.Time California In and Mex
lean Amusement.


Those who are acquainted with the
customs of old Spanish towns in Califor.
MIA know what cascarones are, and are
probably familiar with the ways OF u.s.
ing them and the additional enjoyment
they lend to all dances where they are
used. To such of our readers who are not
well.posted in the matter we will
attempt to give a few words of explain.
alton.
The origin of the custom of cascarone.
breaking is probably surrounded with as
impenetrable a mystery as the identity
of the ''man in the iron mask" 1t was
brought to California by the early Span
ish families from Mex CO, and up to
within few years past, it was an at
tractive feature of every dance given
during q certain portion of the year.
Cascarone season begins according TO
custom at l2 o'clock Christmas night,
and lasts until Ash Wednesday. and any
one of our old citizens can tell of the
grand times at cascaroue balls in the
''fush days" when the custom was at
its height. Dances were of almost
nightly occurrence then, aud hundreds
of dozens of cascarones Were br oxen in
an evening, and many poor family
derived handsome income from the
manufacture and sale of cascarones.
They sold at dollar per dozen in the
early Iart of the evening and in the
''wee sma' hours" when the commodity
became scarce, an ounce OF gold dust has
been known to be given for single
dozen.
Many interesting stories could be told
of the cascarone balls of the past, but
only one will be mentioned. as an in
stance of the popularity of this peculiar
feature OF the balls On one occasion,
at ball given at the residence of Don
Jose Abrego, Pete Serrano, then mu-
chacheco, was on hand selling cascar-
ones. A gentleman approached and
asked what he wonld take for his cas-
carones. 'One dollar dozen," was the
answer. "How many have you?" was
next inquired. "Forty Dozen" All
right. I'll take them" Taking
hall, but had not taken dozen steps
when he was surrounded by number
of young ladies. and in moment all
hands were diving into the basket,
coming out with double handsfull and
crashing them on his head, while he
manfully strove t, return few of the
compliments he received. Ia five min.
utes not one of the forty dozen casca-
rones remained whole. The modus
operandi of cascarone making is very
simple, and about as follows: Into
an empty eggshell-whole. except
for an opening in one end
lust large enough to remove
the original contents-is placed about
teaspoonful of finely chopped paper OF
various bright colors ana gold tinsel,
then the opening is nearly closed by
pasting piece Of colored paper over it,
and then the cascarone is all ready for
use. In Mexico. in the good old times,
gaando habia mucho ORC, gold dust mixed
with diamond dust was often used to
fill the eggshells at the swell fandangos
given by the old grandees. And
1t is done occasionally now days
by come of the wealthy Dons who wish
to do the thing up in style. Other
ways Of filling the shells was to use
perfumed powder, and sometimes rare
and costly perfumes were used. Very
often the shells were beautifully deco.
rated and sometimes hand painted. In
Monterey, before the decline of the Gus.
tom, the shells were often colored in
fanciful designs like Easter eggs,
and at other times tastefully dec
GRATED with different colors of paper.
Chopped paper and tinsel were usually
put in the shells, but on more than one
occasion gold dollar pieces were used